Hardway, Hawkins win state titles

Monday

Jun 2, 2014 at 10:12 AMJun 2, 2014 at 10:12 AM

By Andy BarrandTwitter: @abarrandHDNCOMSTOCK — Hillsdale High School senior Zach Hardway ran away with yet another honor this year, winning the 800-meter run at the Division III State Track meet at Comstock Park.Hardway finished undefeated for the season in every individual race he ran."It is pretty surreal," he said.Hardway wasn't the only Hornet to walk away with a championship from the meet — junior Austin Hawkins won the long jump.Hawkins, who is in his first season running track for the Hornets, won the state title with a leap of 22 feet, 3.5 inches.Hawkins said he had always wanted to run track but never had the opportunity to do so until this year."I had confidence going into the meet," he said.In winning the 800-meter run Hardway broke his own record with a time of 1:54.37. He finished nearly a second in front of Chase Barnett of Mason County Central.He said that he went into the race like it was any other race.Hardway's performance qualified him for the Midwest Meet of Champions in Grandville, Ohio on June 14.After winning the long jump, Hawkins said he plans on continuing with track next year with hopes of returning to the state finals.Hawkins said he battled closely with Drake Bloomer of Lakeview for the win. He knew going into the meet that Bloomer was the one individual he was going to have to beat.Bloomer had jumped farther than Hawkins in each of their first jumps; from that point on Hawkins said he knew he was going to have to step up his game.He said he started to get more confidence after his second jump when he saw that Bloomer's jumps were going in the opposite direction.Hillsdale's 800-meter relay team of Trevor Clevenger, Kyle Bernard, Cody Shaw and Jimmy Felske came in third with a time of 1:31.48. The 400-meter relay team of Marshal Hammel, Felske, Shaw and Hawkins came in fifth with a time of 44.38 seconds.The 1,600-meter relay team of Smith, Hardway, Felske and Noah Hall finished in sixth with a time of 3:29.72.The 3,200-meter relay team of Nick Font, Travis Sutton, Kiehl Smith and Ethan Lowery from Jonesville came in seventh with a time of 8:09.44.Jonesville's Hailey Nielsen finished second in the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 3 inches. She also finished second in the long jump with a leap of 17 feet, 4 inches. She was sixth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 58.64 seconds.